CHAPTER XIV 



FROM THE ALTAI TO THE ILI VALLEY 



On September 20th, 1910, we reached Sharasume, a small 

 military post which the Chinese have built comparatively 

 recently in the Kran Valley, with the intention of guard- 

 ing this, the only, route connecting Dzungaria with 

 Northern Mongolia. We found Sharasume to consist of 

 several " Yamens " — residences of Chinese officials — a 

 mud fort for the garrison, and a group of houses and 

 stores belonging to Chinese, Tartars, and Chantos/ 

 This post represented the headquarters of the Chinese 

 Amban of the Altai, who was immediately under the 

 Emperor in Pekin, and reported directly to him. Quite 

 recently the garrison had been strengthened, and there 

 had been an increase of military activities, in order to 

 re-establish the prestige of the Celestial Empire. When 

 on the spot we were at a loss to discover the exact reason 

 for this innovation, but recent affairs in Mongolia have 

 proved to us that it was merely an attempt to bluff the 



^ The name of Chanto will constantly recur throughout the following 

 chapters, and needs some explanation. It is the Chinese generic name 

 for all Mohammedan-Turki sedentary people, meaning literally "wound 

 round their heads," or turban- wearers. It corresponds to the Russian 

 term " Sart," as applied to the sedentary population of Russian Central 

 Asia. All the inhabitants of Chinese Turkestan are Chantos, but they 

 have no such broad title for themselves, — as a people they have no name, 

 — describing themselves only according to the towns to which they belong, 

 viz. Kashgarlik, Turfanlik, Kumuhk. 



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